


What She Wanted

by Leni



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, background Regina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 22:43:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12757659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin's pov of the scene at Roni's bar. 7x08





	What She Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. I can't believe I'm writing canon. But this intruded in my brain as soon as I saw the scene, and it stayed there until I had to type it in my cellphone as soon as I woke up.

“Belle wouldn’t want this,” Regina says.

…and Rumpelstiltskin remembers warm smiles and all the love a pair of blue eyes can hold, and a whisper as his wife leans in,  _I just want you, Rumple_.

…and Rumpelstiltskin thinks of years laughing together, traveling together, raising their child together, and there’s the phantom of a small hand holding his, a sweet voice that says,  _all I want is a life with you_.

…and Rumpelstiltskin misses the comfort of his wife’s presence at his side, the strength of her, the trust she gave him wholeheartedly, even after everything. _I want you to be yourself_ , the memory of a young wife says as she cradles their recovered child against her chest,  _because I believe you’re a good man_.

 …and Rumpelstiltskin sees years of companionship, a hundred sights seen together, dozens of worlds where his family wandered, always led by the beautiful woman who wanted to see it all.

…and Rumpelstiltskin feels again the warmth of her, the welcome weight of seven decades at her side, the security of her forgiveness and understanding, and how she taught him not to consider their troubled past as a collection of sins for which to do penance, but as a lesson to carry in their hearts. _I want this always_ , her memory says, and for a moment he’s thrown a lifetime into the past, to a few weeks after they left Storybrooke: 

  _I want forever_ , she is saying, their hands linked together, her head resting comfortably on his chest,  _for real this time_. 

Forever was too short for them. 

 "Belle wouldn’t want this.“ 

Regina’s words echo in the empty bar, the note of despair ringing clear in the silence that follows. 

He knows that despair.

 A child’s life in the balance. All odds against her. Of course the Dark One’s help seems like a good option. 

 (It’s not. It’s poison. Belle knew that better than anyone else.) 

Rumpelstiltskin allows his pain to show in his face for an instant. His back is to Regina; he can grant himself that much of an outlet  His body betrays no reaction otherwise. They’ve had this conversation before, he and Regina, with the memory of a woman he loves dangling before him to draw a confession. But the chipped cup is broken, replaced by a lifetime with Belle, and all Regina has is the story he’s told her and the impressions of a woman she hadn’t seen in almost seventy years.

Would Belle want this? Of course not.

Belle wanted a life for him. A life free of the darkness. She trusted him to see it done, and her trust is all that matters. He won’t fail her by allowing himself to be distracted from the quest they started together so many years ago. 

(Regina is a clever girl; she doesn’t need him at all.)

This time Rumpelstiltskin has no guilt to push him into revealing himself. The knowledge of Belle's death hurts as deeply as all those years ago, when it was a lie, but he doesn't blame himself for the loss. If Regina thinks she can strike at his weak point again, she is decades too late.

A thousand memories of a happy marriage keep his back straight and his voice steady even as he tells the most hurtful of lies: 

 "Who is Belle?" 

 

The End   
18/11/17

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! *points at comment box*


End file.
